Transformative technologies in surgery.
| Technology | Definition | Key characteristics | Current surgical benefits | Future integration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Augmented reality | Real-time overlay of digital information (3D models, annotations, or navigation cues) onto the surgeon’s field of view. | Holographic or projection systems. | Enhanced anatomical orientation, safer dissection planes, reduction in iatrogenic injury, improved training via shared visual cues. | Fusion with AI-driven segmentation, cloud-synchronized AR dashboards inside “smart” operating suites. |
| Real-time imaging | Intra-operative acquisition of dynamic visual data (ICG fluorescence, intra-op MRI, etc.) updated second-to-second. | High temporal resolution; integration with navigation platforms; quantitative perfusion and tissue-characterization metrics. | Immediate margin assessment, perfusion checks, adaptive resection strategies. | Feedback to robotic actuators and digital twins, automatically triggering alerts or micro-adjustments during critical steps. |
| AI-assisted surgery | Machine-learning algorithms that analyse images and records to support or automate surgical decision-making. | Deep-learning vision, predictive analytics, natural-language interfaces; self-improving models via continual learning. | Higher lesion-detection rates, automated safety alerts, personalized complication prediction, objective performance feedback. | Integrated across all surgical phases to support adaptive, patient-specific workflows under algorithmic oversight. |
| Robotic automation | Computer-controlled electromechanical systems that manipulate instruments inside the patient’s body. | Motion scaling, tremor filtration; evolving from surgeon-controlled to supervised autonomy. | Greater dexterity, reproducible precision, remote intervention capability, shorter learning curves for complex tasks. | Transition to context-aware, semi-autonomous task execution linked to AI vision and real-time imaging, with collaborative human-robot shared control. |
| Digital twins | High-fidelity computational replicas of an individual patient. | Multi-scale physics models blended with AI; continuously updated by video, force, bio-signals; supports real-time simulation. | Virtual rehearsal, “what-if” risk scoring, personalized implant sizing or ablation zones, objective documentation of intra-operative events. | Acts as the cognitive core of the OR: Functions as the cognitive hub of the operating room, enabling predictive, patient-specific control of surgical procedures. |
AR: augmented reality; ICG: indocyanine green; MRI: magnetic resonance imaging; AI: artificial intelligence; OR: operating room; intra-op: intraoperative.